West Ham United: David Moyes makes ‘concerned’ Lucas Paqueta admission ahead of Everton game
West Ham manager David Moyes admits he was “concerned” about Lucas Paqueta upon his return from injury against Brentford.
Paqueta made his comeback from a near eight-week injury absence as a starter in West Ham’s 4-2 victory at London Stadium on Monday (26 February).
The Brazil international came through his 76 minutes on the field unscathed and now looks set to feature against Everton this weekend.
Speaking at his press conference on Friday (1 March), Moyes said: “I was a bit concerned about him coming back from injury, but he was great.”
Sharing an injury update ahead of the trip to Goodison Park, Moyes added that Aaron Cresswell appears to have recovered from a calf problem.
However, Maxwel Cornet pulled his hamstring last week and is “out for a few weeks”.
West Ham United injury list clearing up
It is surely no coincidence that West Ham’s return to winning ways coincided with Paqueta being recalled to the starting line-up.
Moyes would have loved to have slowly integrated the Brazilian into the side, but West Ham were desperate to have him back.
United’s form dropped off a cliff in Paqueta’s absence, leading to doubts over Moyes’ future, but hopefully they can now return to their form from earlier in the season now he is back.
Again, Moyes will be reluctant to throw the 26-year-old in from the start, but he does not have a great deal of choice.
West Ham need to string together some victories in order to get their campaign fully back on track after a poor January and February.
Losing Cornet for a few weeks is not exactly a major blow, and Moyes now has close to a fully-fit squad to choose from.
On that basis, and with a fit Paqueta back, there is no reason why the Hammers cannot now go on a tear.
In other West Ham news, Harry Redknapp has shared a one-word sack verdict on Moyes.
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